Pasang Lham u Chuli, first ascent o f southwest face and south pillar. After attem pts in 2005 and 2006, Hans Kammerlander finally climbed the southwest face and south pillar of Pasang Lhamu Chuli (7,351m ), a peak im m ediately southwest o f Cho Oyu. It was form erly Jasamba bu t offi­cially renam ed after the death in May 1993 o f Pasang Lhamu, a Sherpani who was the first Nepalese women to climb Everest but perished during the descent. The peak forms the most west­erly sum m it o f the Nangpai Gosum group and had been climbed at least four times previously.

In O ctober 2004 Slovenians Rok Blagus, Samo Krmelj, and Uros Samec m ade a highly underrated ascent o f the south pillar, reaching the upper crest at 6,650m via a difficult ice and mixed climb (ED M5) up the southeast face. They used no fixed ropes but first climbed the face to 6,100m, slept there for acclimatization, and fixed rappel anchors for the descent. They next clim bed to 6,400m and did the same. O n their th ird foray they left their advanced base at

5,450m and climbed the whole southeast face in 14 hours, slanting left onto the crest at 6,650m. There the angle eases, and they spent two nights at that altitude before going for the sum m it. The first narrow corniced section above proved difficult, bu t above 7,000m they found the route straightforw ard.

In spring 2005 K am m erlander, w ith fellow South Tyroleans Luis Brugger and Karl U nterkircher, a ttem pted the south pillar integral from the “saddle” between Pasang Lham u Chuli and the 6,295m D zasam pa Ri. The “saddle” is actually a long, quasi-horizontal ridge, studded w ith rocky pinnacles and towers. Italians had reached it at its no rthern end via steep snow and ice slopes on the southwest face. They progressed part way up the steep mixed crest above over snow and poor rock before retreating in high winds. In 2006 Brugger and Kam­m erlander returned, following the same line, fixing rope and reaching the end o f the steep sec­tion , where the Slovenian route comes in from the right. As they were re tu rn ing to base for a rest before the final push, Brugger became detached from a fixed rope and fell down the sou th­east face to his death.

Kammerlander, w ith Ernst Brugger (brother o f Luis) and film m aker/cam eram an H art­m ann Seber, arrived at their 5,200m base camp im m ediately south o f the m ountain on May 2,2007. U nterkircher arrived the next day and w ith K am m erlander set about establishing Cam p 1 at ca 6,050m on the crest o f the south ridge. To reach this poin t the two reclim bed their old line up the southwest flank, fixing a few ropes. They spent a couple o f days and nights at this cam p, to aid their acclim atization, and worked on the route above, before re tu rn ing to base cam p on the 12th in heavy snowfall. They re tu rned a few days later and clim bed the difficult pillar above, fixing ropes to 6,700m, where the m ain technical difficulties ease and the angle relents. This high po in t was the sam e reached by Brugger and K am m erlander in 2006 when,

due to inaccurate altim eter readings, they thought they were over 7,000m. At 6,500m a steep, difficult rock band bars the route, and the pair was forced off the crest, making a quasi-ho ri­zontal traverse to the right before they could slant back left up a line o f weakness to regain the ridge at 6,650m. This line o f weakness appears to be the same snow/ice couloir that was climbed in 2004 by the Slovenians. T hroughout their tim e on the m ountain the w eather was less than clement; by late m ornings the sky had becom e cloudy, and from then on snow showers would occur. O n the 18th they descended to base camp to rest and wait for a good spell during which to make their sum m it attem pt.

G ood w eather never really arrived, bu t the pair decided to set off on the 21st and later that day regained C am p 1. After resting there, they started clim bing again at 1:30 a.m. on the 22nd, jum aring their fixed ropes to the high point and then em barking on the final 650m to the sum m it, which had been climbed by the Slovenians in 2004. A lthough less difficult, it was not straightforw ard, and the final 120m lay on a particularly sharp and exposed crest. The pair reached the sum m it at 3 p.m ., after a clim bing tim e from base cam p o f around 20 hours and a vertical gain from the m oraine o f alm ost 2,000m. They regained Cam p 1 at 9 p.m. D uring the descent the following m orn ing they found that a section o f rope on the southwest face a little below cam p had been swept away by avalanche; the slope they had ascended a couple o f days before was now sm ooth and clean. They had a couple o f ice screws and a length o f Kevlar for emergencies, and m anaged to set up a series o f delicate rappels and arrived in base cam p at 2

p.m. Kammerlander, who after the ascent called it the m ost difficult o f his career, felt the clim b­ing on the ridge to be o f the same order as the north face o f the Eiger bu t at a m uch higher alti­tude. This was the first o f U nterkircher’s two notable ascents in 2007. He later m ade the first no rth -to -sou th traverse o f G asherbrum II (see Climbs and Expeditions, Pakistan), climbing a new route on the Chinese face.

L i n d s a y G r i f f i n , Mountain INFO, www.climbmagazine.com, and www.kammerlander.com